[refresher]

As someone with a masters and phd in library science fields but not actually working a library, some of the sentiment described here always came across, to me, as librarians (understandably) trying to make themselves relevant in a world where their relevance is increasingly easy to disregard. The enthusiasm they feel for their profession has always seemed extremely high as a result.

[breather]

I have felt libraries and librarians becoming more and more relevant as time goes forward. This goes along with the job creep in the article, too - tending to 3D printers and administering drugs during overdoses isn't classical librarianship.

As long as democracy and free speech are relevant, libraries will be relevant.

How can we help them?

[refresher]

I think if you understand the job creep, or like yourself if you understand the role they can play in democracy and free speech, the relevance will be understood. A surface level 'why do I need libraries I can just google', which I (possibly wrongly) assume many people have, might cause the questioning.

Then again, often when municipal libraries are threatened in some way, there does seem to be an earnest community outpouring of support for them. Perhaps the understanding and appreciation is there, but just quiet.

[clairity]

yah, we need more awareness that librarians are super-googlers, but that would mean an ego hit to a bunch of us via indirectly admitting we're not all hip and in-the-know, which is the currency of social (and regular) media these days. librarians unfortunately lose to public oneupsmanship.